Called ‘Monkey, Mental’ By Villagers, Deepthi Achieves Paralympics Glory

The Paris Paralympics 2024 has shown the world that anything is achievable if one has the will. The athletes, despite challenges, have risen to glory. India’s Deepthi Jeevanji is among those inspirational athletes whose journey was full of challenges, but they never gave up. Deepthi Jeevanji bagged the 16th medal for India as she won the bronze on Tuesday in the women’s 400m T20 final at the ongoing Paris Paralympics 2024. The para-athlete finished the race in 55.82 seconds.

Deepthi Jeevanji had earlier won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship in Kobe, Japan. She hails from the village of Kalleda in the Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh.

Her parents, Jeevanji Yadhagiri and Jeevanji Dhanalaxmi, had then recalled how their daughter had to face taunts while growing up. According to a report in The Indian Express, Deepthi was born with intellectual disability, a cognitive disease hampering communication as well as adaptive skills. 

“She was born during the solar eclipse and her head was very small at birth along with the lips and nose being a bit unusual. Every villager who saw her and some of our relatives would call Deepthi pichi (mental) and kothi (monkey) and tell us to send her to an orphanage. Today, seeing her become the world champion in a far-off country proves that she is indeed a special girl,” Jeevanji Dhanalaxmi, Deepthi’s mother, told The Indian Express in May.

“When my husband’s father died, we had to sell the farm to make ends meet. My husband would earn Rs 100 or Rs 150 a day so there were days when I had to work to support our family, including Deepthi’s younger sister Amulya. Deepthi was always a calm child and spoke very little. But when the village kids would tease her, she would come home and cry. So I would make her sweet rice or, on some days, chicken and that’s what made her happy.”

After her daughter’s big feat, Jeevanji’s father Yadhagiri was emotional.

“Even though it’s a big day for all of us, I could not afford to miss work. That’s my bread and butter and the whole day I was thinking about Deepthi winning a medal in Paris and would tell the driver Elfer about calling other friends and their families to celebrate Deepthi’s medal. She has always given us joy and this medal will also mean a lot to